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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29718456">Candlelight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwingGirlAtHeart/pseuds/SwingGirlAtHeart'>SwingGirlAtHeart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Fluff, Human Castiel (Supernatural), M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:40:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,264</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29718456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwingGirlAtHeart/pseuds/SwingGirlAtHeart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>By their third night together, Dean staying in Cas’s room already feels normal.  Comfortable.  Safe.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel/Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>119</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Candlelight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>By their third night together, Dean staying in Cas’s room already feels normal.  Comfortable.  Safe.  There’s no discussion about it – there doesn’t need to be.  Dean slides into the empty space and fits, a final puzzle piece finding its home.  They still haven’t had sex (at least not all the way) but they’re surely ramping up to it, and Dean is privately amazed at how okay with that he really is.  Even just a year ago, the idea would have terrified him.  He supposes he’s grown.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam takes the change in stride, to Dean’s surprise.  Sure, he’s startled (a gross understatement) when he and Eileen walk in on Dean and Cas making out in the kitchen, but he gets over it quickly.  Frankly, it’s nowhere near the most licentious thing Sam has ever caught Dean doing.  And when Dean walks out of Cas’s bedroom in the morning, Sam doesn’t even bat an eye.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This particular night, Dean and Cas find themselves laying in bed, finishing the last few episodes of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Orange Is The New Black</span>
  </em>
  <span> on the TV that Dean insisted on installing in Cas’s room.  Their legs are tangled together, Cas’s hand idly playing at the corner of Dean’s hip.  The clock is nearing midnight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dean jumps slightly when Cas turns the TV off, jerking out of a half-dream.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re falling asleep,” Cas says, placing the remote on the bedside table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I’m not,” Dean retorts, fighting off a yawn.  “I was just resting my eyes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas chuckles and turns off the lamp.  The only light in the room is seeping in from the hallway through the crack under the door, illuminating Cas’s face like a distant candle.  Dean turns onto his side, letting his arm rest across Cas’s midriff, and is about to close his eyes and let himself sleep when he notices Cas smiling at the ceiling.  He watches for a few minutes, waiting to see if the smile fades, but it doesn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you thinking about?” he asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas reaches down, lays his arm over Dean’s.  “You,” he answers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dean flushes slightly, thankful that it’s not visible in the dimness.  “Well, no need to get mushy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas is all too familiar with Dean’s discomfort at the prospect of a compliment, and continues as if Dean hadn’t spoken.  “You know, the first time I ever saw you, you were nineteen.”  He laughs wistfully, staring up at the ceiling.  “You were so young.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dean blinks, frowns, and lifts his head.  He’s now fully awake.  “What?  How is that possible?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas’s gaze swings down to meet Dean’s, his eyes dark in the shadows.  “You forget, the plan for you and Sam to be the vessels for Michael and Lucifer was thousands of years in the making.  Heaven was watching from the beginning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Every once in a while, Cas will say something that will remind Dean like a slap to the face that he’s a cosmic entity.  This is one of those times.  And even though Cas is human now, he really hasn’t changed that much.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were spying on me?” is Dean’s main question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas shrugs with one shoulder.  “Well, it’s not like I was there a hundred percent of the time,” he explains.  “Or even all that often.  But yes, angels would check in on you and Sam periodically.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And… you were one of them.  On the task force.”  Dean isn’t sure if that makes the whole being-spied-on thing better.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So to speak.”  Cas pauses, a faraway look ghosting into his eyes, and even in the dark Dean can see memories flooding Cas’s mind.  “You were arguing with your father.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dean tilts his head, letting it sink back into the pillow.  “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, it does,” Cas says in a casual, quick way that startles Dean.  “You didn’t argue with John very often.  Not at that age.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dean swallows nervously.  This is edging on something that he doesn’t tell people.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If I remember correctly, the fight was about Sam.  You wanted to stay put for a little while and let Sam keep going to the same school.  John disagreed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cold settles into the pit of Dean’s stomach, and he draws his arm away from Cas’s body, back to his own.  He remembers the fight all too clearly.  It was the first time he ever </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> raised his voice at his father, and John very nearly disowned him.  Not even Sam is fully aware of how bad it got, how truly horrible it was being with John at that time in his life.  The only person who had any inkling of what it was like was Bobby, and that was only because Bobby was there for it.  And apparently, so was Cas.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t remember seeing you,” Dean says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wasn’t in a vessel at the time,” is the simple answer.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas’s brows are knitted together and he’s studying Dean’s face with boundless concern, suddenly aware that he’s upset Dean.  He reaches for Dean’s hand and pulls it back to him, resting it on his chest where Dean could feel his heartbeat.  Dean lets him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The back of Cas’s other hand brushes down Dean’s cheek.  “You were so young,” Cas repeats, then smiles again.  “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> so young.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In that moment, Dean truly </span>
  <em>
    <span>feels</span>
  </em>
  <span> for the first time how long Cas has lived, the eons he’s seen and the things lost to the ages in his wake.  He feels the sheer number of memories crowding Cas’s skull, how Cas has gone through so many lives before this one.  How Dean’s own forty years is a drop in the ocean to a thing like Cas.  It’s far too long for Dean to wrap his head around, so he makes a joke instead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What, you feel like you’re robbing the cradle?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas huffs a laugh through his nose.  “Well, not now that I’m human, no.  I suppose one could argue that you and I are about the same age now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You should pick a birthday,” Dean says abruptly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas blinks at him in confusion.  A birthday is obviously not something that had previously occurred to him.  Hell, the Winchesters themselves barely celebrated their own birthdays.  They hardly seem relevant.  “Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dean shrugs.  “I don’t know, because you’re human now.  Humans have birthdays.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hm.”  Cas glances up at the ceiling again, and then says, “July twenty-fourth,” much faster than Dean is expecting him to answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The date seems arbitrary.  “Why that day?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas squeezes Dean’s hand where it’s still pressed against his chest.  “It’s exactly six months from yours.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dean can’t hide the stunned look on his face, even in the darkness of the bedroom.  Somehow, he thought until now that Cas didn’t even know when his birthday was.  What was the point, after all, when Dean hasn’t enjoyed a birthday in years, and Cas has more birthdays under his belt than can be counted?  But suddenly a birthday seems worthy of celebration and acknowledgement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cas shifts closer to him, finding Dean’s lips with his own.  As Cas kisses him slow and deep, giving him the kind of attention a god would to creating a planet, Dean feels the years fall away behind them.  Here in the dark, none of those years matter except as cobblestones leading them to arrive at this point – not the end of the road, not nearly, but an important rest stop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lurking somewhere in the back of Dean’s head is the thought that he doesn’t deserve this, but Cas draws it out of him, muscling through Dean’s defenses only to be gentle on the other side.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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